“Don't rebel against the LORD, and don't be afraid of the people of the land. We will devour them like bread. They have no protection, and the LORD is with us. So don't be afraid of them."– Numbers 14:9 (Gods Word)

Father God in Jesus Name, I thank You for Your grace, love, mercy and wisdom. I pray that this is prophetic to someone reading this and I pray that You help us to learn lessons that cause us to be wiser, smarter and better Christians in our day to day life. Holy Spirit make Your words come alive, relevant and understandable, please in Jesus Name. Amen.

The start of Numbers 14 starts with the word “and” which causes us to look back on the previous chapter. In the past chapter we see spies searching out the Promised Land, only two said they could conquer it; Joshua and Caleb. The rest of Israel said, “we are like grasshoppers in their sight.” (Numbers 13:33). The wilderness gives us a clear example of what to do and what not to do, it’s filled with the richness of Gods Word that is relevant today. However, there are warnings in the wilderness experience and often we experience wilderness experiences.

Today, we may have wilderness jobs, droughts in our spiritual life, spiritual attack, family problems, issues, strongholds that haven’t yet been broken completely. However, this doesn’t mean “God wont.” God can, and God will. However, there are things we must do for this to happen. The Promised Land was right around the corner, but it took the Children of Israel forty years to even get near it and then not even go into it because of their rebellion. Often, we think Israel’s rebellion was the sexual impurity, idol worship, etc. as written in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 and it was but within the crevices of Numbers 14 the thing God was most displeased of was their lack of faith.

God wanted to take them somewhere and they actually wanted to go back in verse 9, they had a leader from God named Moses and they wanted to “make” a leader to go back. Why would you even need a leader to go back to Egypt? Truthfully, if you think about it, they probably wouldn’t have even made it back. After-all they went in circles for years and years. However, God was consistently displeased by their lack of faith and their lack of faith was delaying them from receiving the promises of God.

It was clear, even regardless of their sins, God loved them and cherished them. God wanted to wipe them out completely, but Moses interceded. God didn’t desire it so as a reasonable leader the Spirit of God led him to intercede and pray to God on their behalf and Moses was listened to by God. However, after severe rebuke from God you find the Children of Israel crying and whining saying we have sinned (v. 40). It was at that moment they were ready to just go into the Promised Land, but they had already delayed their breakthrough through unbelief and no trust in God. So, some went into the valley to fight and were killed. It wasn’t real repentance it was momentary trust as well. It wasn’t real. It was a “now I fear the consequences, so I’ll do it,” but inwardly they didn’t want to do it.

The real truth is there are a few things we can learn just from this short synopsis of this chapter. However, there are many if we spend time in the Word of God.

1) Self-Doubt – They said we looked like grasshoppers. They didn’t believe in themselves or God to take care of them. They were capable of both, but fear got in the way. God promised to provide, and He continued, but they continued to complain and want the old life back. Is there something you need to get rid of, so you can go into the new life of freedom in Christ? Ask God to show you and when He does, don’t hesitate to ask for help to get rid of it. Giants can be things that are simple to just throw away and be free of. Don’t doubt yourself, God is with you and to doubt yourself often reflects how you will feel about God working in and through you.

2) Fear is contagious – The spies brought back a bad report and said there were giants in the land. They were terrified and for the benefit of the doubt, perhaps we see giants in our land. We may see them in our situations, family, jobs, our “security” and even our opposition for ministry. However, God took the power from what was big and gave it to Israel. Have you thought something was incapable of doing so you just gave up. You may have thought “it’s impossible, why try?” Giants! The fact is they were told there were giants and that caused the fear (they didn’t even visibly see them), before that imagine the thoughts in their minds “we are about to go into the Promised Land God gave us,” “God is about to bless us” and then here comes the fearites. We’ve got ten people over here telling them something in fear and fear went through them, causing a deeper lack of faith. Fear is a spirit (2 Timothy 1:7) however, fear can be dispensed through words from people into our ears. Sometimes all it takes is one person to say, “I don’t know about that” or “I wouldn’t do it and you don’t have the credentials, applying for that is crazy.” Fear comes into our ears from a person’s mouth and causes a delay in our actions which delays Gods work and promises from coming to pass. Chose today, fear or faith. It’s a choice to hear fear and a choice to hear faith, as it is written “faith comes by HEARING” (Romans 10:17)

3) Just Obey – They went to battle after they were told they had punishments coming from God, only after that. If they just went ahead and did what God wanted them to do in the first place, they would have succeeded in conquering territory that was literally, already there’s. Sometimes there is something with your name on it and you are too afraid, fearful and often disobedient to do the will of God. Do your best, if you struggle with a sin that doesn’t mean you aren’t in the will of God. The very fact you struggle is a sign you are born again and that you are walking with God. If you don’t struggle against sin, you probably don’t care too much about God or have not yet received the great salvation that is free, with your name on it, by believing in the Cross and the salvation Jesus provided through it.

The truth is, we all have giants. Some are bigger to us than others. Someone may say “you can do that” and you don’t believe in yourself, that is a giant. We cannot undermine someone’s giant, but we can speak positivity, encouragement and life into them. We as Christians must learn how to see through the deceptive nature of Satan speaking through people to give us consistent fearful thoughts and negative images. God can do “it” and He can use you to do “it.” Don’t let Satan use thoughts, people, images of failures in your head or even mistakes to launch you into the deep abyss of “I’ll never get out of this.” You can, and you will, follow Jesus, serve Him, study Him, do your best to walk like Him and pray to Him and believe. God is there already, and God has provided already, just because “now” isn’t here yet doesn’t mean there isn’t a time table in reality that God has already set in eternity.

Father in Jesus Name, we come to You and pronounce victory over fear and disbelief in you. We pray that shattered shackles are found on the ground spiritually and emotionally. We pray that You fully deliver us from sins we know of and sins we don’t. Kill our giants. We pray against every negative voice whether from people or satan in the name of Jesus Christ. We pray for freedom from the vices and habits that we need to get rid of and the giants that stand in our way. Help us Lord to remember all You have done and know that the bigger a giant stands the harder they fall and the lower we go in humility, study of Your Word and prayer the stronger we are. Give us power to overcome, please. Father, glorify Yourself through freedom. We pray that Your reputation in our life is glorious. Protect Your reputation don’t let us fail because of the thought of something that hasn’t even happened in the name of Jesus. We thank You that in Jesus Name. Amen.